Below are the 17 most recent journal entries recorded in kilbswhitecrow's LiveJournal:

Thursday, February 26th, 2009
10:07 pm	Concom chairs: care and feeding Welcome to the delightful world of concom chair ownership! With proper care and attention, your chair will give you hours of endless enjoyment for many years to come. Be sure to follow these rules. Your chair is a natural product; any markings or irregularities are unique and enhance its natural beauty. Warranty void if sticker removed. Do not remove cover. There are no user-servicable parts inside. 1. Communicate with your chair regularly. Chairs whither and die (or explode) if not talked to regularly. Keep your chair informed about your activities. If you have no activity to report, not to worry - you can maintain the dialogue by informing your chair of this, instead. Include dates. Do not worry about over-feeding your chair with information - chairs have special pouches in their emails and can store concom information for many days at a time, coming back to it later as needed. 2. Inform your chair of absences. If you do not, your chair will fret at the lack of communication (see Rule 1) and start to whither. Advance notice and indication of time of return will keep your chair happy and comfortable. 3. Do not feed after midnight. 4. Carry out your assigned tasks. Chairs are creatures of habit, and will line their nests with lists and schedules and plans. Completing your tasks will help your chair build a proper nest of ticked-off items. Undone items fester, and the nest unravels. 5. Do not cross the streams. 6. Take responsibility for delays and mistakes. Chairs are used to life intruding unexpectedly, and can repair and re-weave schedules where they no longer fit, but a fraying thread, never quite complete or long enough, damages the whole. Everyone forgets something, sometimes, and chairs by nature will resort to plans and schedules and remind you of your omission (and it gives them something with which to occupy their time). It helps the chair if you admit your forgetfulness and move on. If you cannot complete your task, ask for help. The chair will find additional resources, or reallocate tasks as needed. Chairs are happy to do this, as it saves the chair from fretting about whether the chair need intervene, and chairs are never happy when doing so. 7. Do not exceed 88mph. 8. Be proactive. Don't wait until prompted to complete your tasks. Carry them out before your deadlines, and be clear when they're done. When you do this often, the chair may begin to preen or purr. This is quite normal, and indicates a happy chair. (Particularly happy chairs may start to sing; unfortunately, there is no way of stopping this.) 9. Be clear in your communications. When asked questions, give full answers, with as little ambiguity as possible. Do not just answer the convenient parts and ignore the rest. Casual, vague answers will upset your chair, which will then start digging and burrowing for more detail, in case something remains undone. Chairs do not like ambiguity - it interferes with the neat ticks in the nest, and leads to incomplete tasks sprouting unexpectedly out of season. 10. This means you. This is your chair. There are many others like it, but this one is yours. The chair may belong to others too, but it is still your chair, and your responsibility. When the chair speaks, do not assume that the chair is speaking to someone else, and that you may safely ignore it - see Rule 1. Do not wait to see whether someone else is responding. Do not wait until tomorrow. Respond today, as appropriate. And that's it. Simple rules, for a happy, healthy chair, which will be with you for many years to come. And we're sorry about the singing. (Comment on this)
9:46 pm	Redemption '09 Redemption '09 has just happened. Mostly, in a blur. There are fans posting about Best. Redemption. Ever. So I guess it went okay... I have some regrets. ( ... ) ( Good things ) ( Thanks ) It was, I'm told, a great con. With luck, '11 will be even better. See you there! (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 1st, 2008
6:49 pm	It's here! Further to this post, my contributor copy of Fabulous Whitby turned up today. Despite the local post office's efforts, which have been epic in the past. Woo-hoo! Something with a spine has my name in it![1] [1] Other than the acknowledgements, which to date include a Ben Jeapes and an Alaistair Reynolds. Current Mood: ecstatic (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
2:19 pm	Anthology Builder In other writing news, prompted by various Milford folk (specifically the ineffable Chair, who prodded me with an e-spork), I have uploaded A Thief in the Night to AnthologyBuilder.com. I know Sue was going for a Milford-themed anthology; can't see anyone else shifting it. :-) (Comment on this)
1:38 pm	Fabulous Whitby I am informed that Fabulous Whitby, which includes my contribution Wylde in Whitby, now has an actual physical manifestation in this reality. It's listed on both Amazon.co.uk and BookBrain.co.uk, though neither have either a cover image or contents, so you'll just have to take my word for it. This is produced by Fabulous Albion, who were also responsible for Fabulous Brighton. For those of you who haven't heard of this illustrious tome - which, let's face it, is most of you - it's a shared-world anthology set in a town remarkably similar to that of our own, except slightly twisted and fantastical. There are (tentative) plans for more in the series. Anyway, *Bounce*. I believe the full contents list runs like this: Dreaming of Angels, Cherith Baldry Heritage Ocean, Neville Rhys Barnes The Whitby Jets, Jacey Bedford Stone and Stage, Chris Butler Thick Hides and Furry Hearts, Mark Concannon Jettisoned, Deirdre Counihan Proof of Devotion, Dayle A. Dermatis Lost in Whitby, Melanie Fletcher How Thorvald the Bloody-Minded Saved Christmas, Esther M. Friesner Wylde in Whitby, Stephen Kilbane Hobdale, Ruth Nestvold and Jay Lake Recalled to the Wrath of Penda, Alistair Rennie The Whale's Daughter, Kari Sperring The Age of Silver, Sue Thomason Drowning Victims, Karen Williams Mortal Coil, Liz Williams The Codsman and his Willing Shag, Neil Williamson Current Mood: excited (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
12:33 pm	Tell us stuff! Now that the convention's done, we're collecting both convention reports - what you did, what you saw - and convention feedback - what worked, what didn't - over on our website. The feedback's especially important. We tried some different things for this Eastercon, and we'd like to know whether they worked. Current Mood: Tired, but relieved (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 24th, 2006
9:08 am	Ping Hmmm. Prod, poke. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, September 29th, 2005
11:13 pm	Change I really hate it when shop-keepers - or, indeed, anyone I'm paying - give me change by placing the note(s) in my palm, and then putting the coins on top. I know it's suppose to be helpful. It makes it considerably harder to put the coins and notes away without dropping something, because my choices are to: (1) close my hand, wrapping the coins in a little financial parcel that has to be unwrapped later; or (2) use my other hand - frequently occupied with goods - to retrieve the coins before they slide off the smooth notes. It's better to give a customer the coins or notes and let them process that however they wish and then give them the rest. Current Mood: Grumpy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 16th, 2005
1:20 pm	Ed film fest So there was a big queue at the Filmhouse when the Film Festival box-office opened. Lots of people. This disconcerted the biddies who just wanted to get tickets for the next showing of a film that day. The staff had announced that at 2pm, they'd be opening a separate queue/counter for same-day tickets. The irony of all this is that the film showing at 2:30pm was Festival. "Is this where I queue to get Festival tickets" only works if someone can hear the italics... Current Mood: amused (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 20th, 2005
11:27 pm	The Gimp No, not the Tarantino character from Pulp Fiction. I refer, of course, to the Gnu Image Manipulation Program. I've been fiddling with this of late. It's rather impressive, and also has a rather steep learning curve. Alas. Being a non-Photoshop person, I'm largely lost by many things that are probably intuitively obvious to other people, but I've been having fun achieving not very much with it. Mind you, I seem to be finding it surprisingly difficult to draw properly-aligned concentric circles with it. Who knows - maybe one day I'll figure it out enough to actually acquire an icon? (Comment on this)
11:04 pm	Meme resistance Having been tagged, I refuse to play nice. So I'm going for CDs instead. Nyah, nyah. How many music CDs do you own? (wanders over to the collection, counts how many fit into a ruler, and then guestimates by rapidly working out how many rulers'-worth there are, there.) Erm, apparently, between 350 and 450. What's the last one you bought? D'you know, I can't remember. I did buy Antonio Forcione's Touch Wood for someone recently. I suspect it may have been the combo of Justin Timberlake's Justified and Coldplay's Parachutes. But possibly not. I'm not convinced I've bought any this year, for me. What's the last one you listened to? Now, that's easy. Beautiful, by Garbage. It's just finished playing as I type this. Which ones mean a lot? Hehe. 1. The first Buffy soundtrack CD. The one from the first few seasons. I was astounded how many good tracks it has on it, and I play it a lot. I'm particularly partial to Velvet Chain's Strong, Bif Naked's Lucky, and a host of others on there that I haven't heard anywhere else. 2. Once More With Feeling. It gets sung to. A lot. 3. Scarlet and Other Stories, by All About Eve. A toss-up between this and Flowers In Our Hair, but Scarlet... has December and Road To Your Soul on it. Ah, Tim, why did you leave? Okay, so you went to The Sisters of Mercy, but still - Touched By Jesus just doesn't hold a candle to the first two albums. 4. Appetite For Destruction by Guns'n'Roses, and ne'er a truer album title was coined. Completely, utterly, unashamedly committed music. 5. Throwing Copper, by Live. No-one else on the planet appears to have heard of them, yet I went out and bought it because I heard the single and thought it was great. Must have dropped through a wormhole, or something. But the thing about Live is this: there's a track by The Cult called Heart of Soul, and the lyrics say, "You've got to bleed a little while you sing/'less the words don't mean nothing". Or something like that. Astbury mumbles. But he's not wrong. And Live are opening wrists on every track. That's why I like it. I've go no idea what most of their songs are about, but they appear to mean every incoherent syllable they sing. Drag others down to your level Shan't. (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 8th, 2005
10:19 pm	Poor scheduling The story I've been trying to write for the past (mumble) weeks is slowly starting to come together. It's still dreadful, but at least now it's got a point. Even if it's not a good one. Problem is, it's not finished yet, and it was supposed to be send out for a critiquing session this Wednesday. Alas, now, I feel that it's too near to the date to actually send out. Personally, I'd prefer to postpone, what with no-one having submitted anything before the one-week-to-go polite deadline. But no. One submission received on Friday night (while I was out). Spent most of the weekend either working or writing (or, if I'm honest, seeing XXX2). But no critiquing. And tonight, another submission. So, two to read, before Wednesday evening. I'm busy tomorrow and Tuesday nights, and tomorrow lunchtime. So guess what I'll be doing, Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtimes? Gah. (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 7th, 2005
10:45 pm	XXX2 - The Next Level Just saw this. ( Oh dear.. ) Of course, I enjoyed it anyway, despite all of that. Still stunned by the concept of Vin Diesel's next film being a Disney movie, though. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
3:13 pm	HHGG I saw the new Hitchhikers movie recently. Overall, not a bad film. Not as bad as I was expecting, but not as good as I hoped. ( If you want to know the details... ) (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 20th, 2005
4:27 pm	Sigh... Well, it turns out that I can, just not very usefully. Points: (a) The phone link uses the IRDa port, so I can't be online and use the keyboard at the same time. (b) I can type the entry in advance, but it has to be short because: (i) the cut'n'paste buffer's very small; (ii) each time I switch back to the browser to paste, it refreshes the window, losing any entry text so far. (c) I can't disconnect, type a large entry directly, and re-connect, because the reconnection tries to refresh the page too. And fails. Sigh. More examples of how poorly thought-through the Palm stuff is, compared to my late, lamented Psion. :-( Current Mood: depressed (Comment on this)
Saturday, February 19th, 2005
1:42 pm	This is just an experiment to see if I can post to LJ from my Palm. Normal service will be resumed later. (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 3rd, 2005
9:58 pm	Bloody mozilla Just spent ages typing in a plug for Macdonald Academy over in [Unknown LJ tag], only to accidentally click on an email link, and have Mozilla launch its user account configuration wizard. Which you can't exit. You can't even get out of it when you get to the end. The damn thing just hangs the browser. Had to kill it. Boom goes all the links I had set up in the LJ post. Grrr. (Comment on this)